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UINTAH COUNTY -- For nearly the past three years, one of eastern Utah's most popular attractions has been closed, and a lack of funding has kept it from re-opening.
Now, the federal government has committed to $13 million for the Quarry Visitor Center at Dinosaur National Monument and plans are in the works to get it up and running again.
Paleontologist Dan Chure worked in the building that housed the quarry for 30 years. It was tough leaving, but he knew it had to be closed.
"This was my office," Chure said. "Now it's a huge gap. You can't see much."
The Quarry Visitors Center at Dinosaur National Monument was closed in 2006 because it was falling apart. It was built in 1957 on bentonite shale, which constantly moves.
"They've moved over several millimeters," Chure said.
The result: cracks are getting bigger, windows are moving further from the wall and the gaps underneath support girders are getting wider. Park managers decided to close the building instead of risking it collapsing on visitors.
That meant the world-famous dinosaur bone quarry inside could no longer be seen by visitors. "There's just hundreds and hundreds of bones here," Chure said.
The effect on the park has been devastating. "We're a fee park, and so that fee goes into the operation of the park, and that has hurt us overall," said Wayne Prokopetz, Chief of research and resource management at Dinosaur National Monument.
Last month, though, the federal government announced $13 million in funding for the park, specifically to build a new quarry visitors center. "Wow, it was beyond our wildest dreams!" Chure said.
For him, it means a new office, but more importantly the same bone quarry and school field trips to see it.
"When I see young kids touching it, it reminds me of when I was young and really first got enthusiastic about dinosaurs," Chure said.
Groundbreaking for the new building could happen next spring, with the structure planned to be in place by late 2010, early 2011. The plans are still being worked out.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
